[Review] Legends Of Tomorrow Episode 4×11: “Séance and Sensibility”

written by Kate Danvers

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

Hank’s horrific plan is finally revealed! It’s so much better than I thought.

In the aftermath of Hank’s death, the Legends gather to support their teammate at the funeral. In the past, TV shows have handled the deaths of loved ones in memorable ways. Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s “The Body” took the supernatural show and made it personal and realistic, showing friends and family coping with the shock of a sudden death. How I Met Your Mother‘s “Last Words” saw a character dealing with the loss of his father and putting extra weight on his final words. Scrubs explored denial and grief over the death of a friend in “My Screw Up”.

But this is Legends of Tomorrow – they find a way to make it wacky.

Actually, we do have some drama right at the start. Ray can’t bring himself to talk to Nate because Nora is the prime suspect in Hank’s death and Ray believed Nora could be good. Nate himself can’t figure out how to memorialize the father he didn’t get along with, even before he found out Hank was embezzling money and capturing supernatural creatures. The two nerd bros affirm their love for each other, though, so that bullet is dodged. Nora starts communicating to Ray through mirrors and professes her innocence. Ray sneaks her aboard the Waverider and hides her in his room.

Sara, Zari, Charlie, and Mona leave on a mission to save Jane Austen from a magical fugitive. Mona figures out that Zari likes Nate and blabs it in front of Charlie and Sara. Sara tells her Nate confessed to liking Zari too when he was under the influence of the truth bug.

ZARI: “We’re so not passing the Bechdel Test right now.”

Self-awareness of a problem isn’t correcting a problem, Legends.

Off to Bath, England in 1802! After a run-in with a coachman that leads to the girls teasing Zari some more, they attend a wedding where the bride halts the proceedings to declare her love for the maid (I think I read that novel recently). The groom, we find out, has his sights on the bride’s mother, and the congregation erupts into a frenzy of passionate confessions and making out.

So Jane Austen starts writing smut for Archive Of Our Own instead, what’s the problem here?

They track the problem to the coachman, who claims to be Kamadeva, the Hindu god of love. Zari avoids being seduced and captures him, but Jane Austen’s career is still in jeopardy. She’s stopped believing in love! They’ll deal with that in the morning, though. Overnight, Kamadeva releases some magical dust into the air that causes all sorts of TV-14 dreams for the crew.

Zari get teased about dreaming of a threesome with Nate and Kamadeva. Mona is sad because she dreamed of Konane. In her effort to comfort her, Zari is a bit…prickly, and causes Mona to wolf out and hunt down Jane Austen.

Mona blames Jane for turning her into a hopeless romantic based on lies, because Jane doesn’t believe in love. Jane says she does, and that one should only marry for love…yet she became disillusioned by a town looking for love outside of prearranged marriages? Wut? This somehow works, though, and Mona calms down. Jane’s real reason for being disillusioned with true love is knowing she’s going to be poor when her father passes away. Mona tells her to keep writing because her books are going to catch on.

Zari verbally spars with Kamadeva over love being a liability or a necessity. Kamadeva reveals that he was a mortal named Sunjay who gathered the ashes of the real Kamadeva and put them in a necklace. He taunts Zari into freeing him and trying the dust for herself, with him.

OH COME ON! That’s still a dead guy’s ashes, magic or not. Might as well lick the inside of a crematorium.

Hank’s spirit is still lingering in the house, so Constantine wants to do a séance. Nate wants nothing to do with that because he’s having trouble trying to come up with a eulogy for his father. He offers a halfhearted “rest in peace” before his mom stands up and tells a story about when Nate missed a trip to Disney World because of a trip to the hospital (presumably related to his hemophilia). Hank ended up renting a Mickey Mouse costume to cheer up his son and other kids at the hospital.

Lost in a whirlwind romance, Zari and Sunjay decide to get married…but not before they break into song and dance with elaborate costumes, set dressing, and the entire town as backup. Sara and Charlie arrive just in time to join in.

CHARLIE: “Wait a sec, is this a Bollywood musical number?”

Scratch that one off this show’s bucket list. Wait, that’s it! The writers must be in constant fear of being canceled so they’re speedrunning a bucket list. Beebo? Check. Bollywood musical number? Check. “Legends of To-Meow-Meow” must have checked off half a page.

The music gets broadcast over the comms to the ship, where Ray and Nora join in. Mona interrupts the wedding, singing a verse to Zari about waiting for true love rather than impulsive lust. Turns out immortal love god Sunjay is already married…to a thousand wives. That’s a bit of a dealbreaker for Zari. Mona vows to find love again after Konane, and Zari vows to find real love.

Yeah, this isn’t like those other death/funeral episodes at all.

Constantine does a séance with an unwilling vessel for Hank’s spirit – Mick. Hank tells him about being approached by a man offering unlimited funding in exchange for access to the Bureau’s magical creatures, and that the man turned out to be a demon. He gives the name Neron before leaving Mick’s body.

Meanwhile, Nate discovers a hidden room in his dad’s house behind a bookcase, because it’s always a bookcase. Inside is all of the paperwork about his evil sinister scheme. Nate turns on a camera in the room that begins playing a pitch video Hank recorded…for a magical creature amusement park called HeyWorld, based on a drawing Nate made at the age of nine.

Oh gods, please let that be the setting for the season finale. Please.

Now knowing that his dad had really done those things for him and to create a place to bring people together, Nate begins seeing his dad in a different light. He tearfully stands in front of his father’s casket, admiring his wacky ambition and regretting that he never got to know that side of him. He says he loves Hank before amending it to “Dad”.

Drinking alone in the shed, Constantine is mocked by his mirror image, who suggests he failed all of those people because he wanted them to keep him company in Hell. The reflection changes to Desmond, revealing Neron’s current vessel to Constantine.

You know, when Hank was revealed to be a villain earlier this season, I was expecting some grand evil scheme like using magical creatures as weapons for the government. You know, dragon air support, minotaur infantry, gnome…black ops? I dunno, I ran out of steam and creativity there, but you get my point. I was expecting the cliché of the government trying to weaponize things they didn’t quite understand and cocking it up. But no, theme park. I love this batshit crazy show.

Nate has been getting some really good development this season, and while they’re clearly brewing a Nate/Zari romance, I’m glad they’re letting that simmer on the back burner while Nate deals with his family issues. It was important for him to be alone for the HeyWorld revelation and his final goodbye to Hank. There’s time to bring the other Legends up to speed on everything later – that needed to be between Nate and his dad.

That’s not to say the team interactions weren’t good or important. I loved Sara, Charlie, Zari, and Mona kidding around with each other. Mick even got in a really good piece of advice with Nate at the funeral, telling him that the words he said in his eulogy weren’t for Hank because Hank is gone – those words are for Nate. And of course I continue to adore every moment of the friendship between Ray and Nate. When they finally talk at the funeral, they both tell the other that they love them. Later, when the rest of the Legends are leaving for the past, Sara gives Nate a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Then Ray also gives him a kiss on the cheek and there’s this awkward moment and then Zari hugs Nate. No, this isn’t me shipping Nate and Ray. This is me showing appreciation for a series being willing to show two men in a loving friendship without any macho posturing.

Next time: Retail purgatory gets a lot more literal.

Legends Of Tomorrow airs Mondays on the CW at 9 ET/8 CT. Kate can be reached on Twitter @WearyKatie.

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